


Intently Thrilling Meadshire High School

by Zalvy (Umbra_Writes)



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Characters play D&D, Other, blood warning (second chapter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-01-18 08:25:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12384510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbra_Writes/pseuds/Zalvy
Summary: Zalvetta just moved to a new place with his father, Xin, after he was expelled from his old school for various reasons he finds himself in the town (one of many) Meadshire. Zalvetta figures it's only time before he's expelled again and their forced to move but what he didn't expect was to make some actual friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**_"Zalvetta!_ ** Get up or you'll be late for  _ school!" _ Zalvetta groaned as he lifted his head from his pillows, his hair was a mess and he was incredibly tired. Getting up was a struggle in itself and by the time Zalvetta was dressed and up stairs he was even more tired than when he had woke up.  _ "Zalvetta.  _ Don't start any fights, I  _ really  _ don't want to move again  _ just  _ because you got expelled." Zalvetta just huffed as he walked to the front door before he could grab the handle Xin grabbed his hand. "Zalvetta I mean it. And try to make some friends." Xin gave a smile and Zalvetta pulled his hand free from the males grip before he opened the door and quickly left the house. The bus stop was only a five minute walk from the house but for Zalvetta that was a bit too much, he wasn't that athletic he could run decently fast but he didn't have any stamina. He wasn't heaving by the five minute walk his breath was a bit heavy, he had done good. Zalvetta looked around for the bus before he grumbled and shoved his hands into the pockets of the sweater he had thrown on,  _ if the bus isn't here in two minutes I'm going back home and back to sleep.  _ Much to Zalvetta's dismay the bus was pulling up within a minute, he stared blankly as the bus stopped and the doors opened. Zalvetta  **_hated_ ** buses, they were just  _ big metal death traps.  _ Slowly the blond stepped onto the yellow  _ death trap _ he looked to see if there were any empty seats and sighed inwardly when there was none. Walking forward he looked between the seats before he was suddenly grabbed and pulled down onto a seat. Amber eyes looking up, Zalvetta seen a brunet he was smiling.

"My name's Gregor! What's yours?"

"Uh, Zalvetta." "It's good to meet you Zalvetta!" Zalvetta swallowed and he nodded before he moved into a proper sitting position. Zalvetta just stared forward as the bus started to move, he tried  _ really  _ hard to ignore Gregor. It was hard to when Gregor was just staring at him "Do you mind?" "Huh? Oh sorry! I didn't even realize I was staring at you." Gregor turned and looked out the window letting Zalvetta sigh and relax slightly. Zalvetta  _ already _ knew that this was going to be terrible, this school would be terrible,  **_everything was going to be terrible._ ** The bus had a few more stops, nobody really caught Zalvetta's eye, nothing out of the ordinary that was until a tall blond got onto the bus. As he walked by he noticed the horns on his head, Zalvetta stared at them utterly confused. The male had sat down with someone with white hair Zalvetta couldn't tell if they were male or female and he didn't really care but  _ why does that kid have horns?  _ Once the bus closed its door it was driving once again, Zalvetta looked out of the window past Gregor and at the school they were nearing. Zalvetta looked up at the sign on the school and internally cringed at it,  **_Meadshire High School and Middle School._ ** Zalvetta swallowed hard as the bus came to a stop and teens started to get off of it. Slowly Zalvetta stood and filed out of the bus with the others.

_ This is terrible. This is so terrible, I hate this. Xin I hate you.  _ Zalvetta was growling and cursing Xin inside of his own mind as the class dragged on. This was his first class and it was already taking forever! It might not have helped that Zalvetta  _ did  _ transfer in the middle of the school year. The bell suddenly rang and Zalvetta was one of the first to stand up and leave the room, he started to walk to his next class which was History.  _ Great.  _ Zalvetta groaned as he finally found the classroom, he walked into the room and looked around. The first thing he noticed was sitting in a desk there was the brunet from the bus, next to him was the white haired  _ person  _ and behind them was the blond with the  **_horns._ ** Trying to  _ not  _ be seen Zalvetta snuck past the group and sat in one of the desks at the back, The blond sunk down in his desk as to not be seen it was pretty quick as the classroom filled up. The bell rang for second period and the teacher wasn’t even in the classroom yet, he looked around as all the students just talked to each other. Zalvetta just sat there slowly,  _ slowly  _ sinking down into his desk. He jumped when the door was slammed open and slammed shut by a man, he had black hair and what Zalvetta could only describe as  **_dead_ ** eyes. He swallowed hard as the man walked to the desk and just dropped himself into the chair at the desk, everyone stopped talking and turned to look at the man he  _ really  _ didn’t look like he wanted to talk but he sighed and started to speak.

“Yeah just do whatever you want. You know the drill.” He muttered as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, quickly everyone was talking once again leaving Zalvetta to just sit in his desk. “Hi Zalvetta!” Zalvetta jolted and sat up straight almost violently, he turned and looked at who spoke and calmed down just  _ slightly  _ when he seen it was Gregor. “Oh  _ uh,  _ hi Gregor.” Gregor smiled and turned around gesturing the white haired  **_person_ ** over along with the blond with  _ horns.  _ The two walked over and Gregor introduced them, “This is Ashe,” he gestured to the white haired one, “and this is Markus.” The blond waved with a smile.”Ashe, Markus this is Zalvetta.”

“Good to meet you Zalvetta!”

“Hi.” Ashe was  _ very  _ blunt and didn’t look too happy. Markus on the other hand seemed  _ too  _ happy, it kinda freaked Zalvetta out. Gregor was smiling “He’s the one I told you about, the one I met on the bus.” Ashe looked back at Gregor and raised an eyebrow “ _ Him?  _ I thought that was a girl.” Zalvetta’s eyes went wide and he stood up almost angrily before he quickly tried to calm himself down. “I am  _ not  _ a girl.” For how angry he felt you’d think that this didn’t happen often but he got called a female a lot, normally he didn’t care it was just kind of annoying but today has been a  _ bad  _ day already he didn’t need more of this. “Calm down girl.” Markus joked softly as he put a hand on Ashe’s shoulder, Ashe just huffed and walked back to her desk sitting back down. Gregor looked worried before Markus smiled, “Don’t worry I’ll talk to her.” He walked over to Ashe and sat in his desk behind her before the two started to talk. Zalvetta sat back down with a quiet sigh “Zalvetta? Do people mix you up for a girl all the time?” Gregor asked and in response Zalvetta nodded sighing “It happens a lot, it’s probably because I braid my hair and wear revealing clothes.” “Revealing clothes?” “Yeah when you can see the midriff or stomach, I like to wear crop-tops.” Zalvetta waited for Gregor’s response, expecting something  like;  _ What? Gross! What kind of guy wears crop-tops?  _ Gregor just smiled and sat on Zalvetta’s desk as he started to talk, just talking about things he liked and stuff that’s happened. It was a lot for Zalvetta to listen to but he ended up listening to all of it even though he didn’t want to.

“I’m home.” Zalvetta called out as he entered the house he sighed when he didn’t get a response. “Figures.” He muttered as he quickly walked down stairs, Zalvetta threw his backpack onto his bed and looked around at all of the boxes almost nothing in the house was unpacked and he really didn’t like how bare the walls were. He opened up one of the boxes and pulled out a pack of adhesive hooks, opening the package he started to hang the hooks along the wall. Zalvetta threw the empty package onto his bed as he walked to another of what looked to be  _ countless  _ boxes, he opened one and pulled out a mask. Zalvetta stared at it before he smiled and hung it on one of the plastic hooks, he frowned before straightening it and grabbing the next mask.

“Zalvetta! I’m home!” “I’m down here.” Xin walked down the stairs and into Zalvetta’s room “You’re putting up all your masks?” Zalvetta nodded as he put up another mask. “Walls felt bare, I didn’t like it.” Xin smiled and picked up a pack of adhesive hooks and started placing them on the wall where he could reach he placed masks on the hooks once he finished with the hooks. “Want to help me reach the ones at the top?” Xin asked and Zalvetta nodded he grabbed some more plastic hooks and walked over to Xin. The male picked Zalvetta up he shifted the male around until Zalvetta was sitting on Xin’s shoulders. “Zalvy?” “Hm.” “These masks don’t freak you out right? You don’t have nightmares or anything?” Zalvetta stopped sticking the hooks to the wall and looked down at the other. He scoffed and rolled his eyes “No. I like them actually. I find it hard to sleep  _ without  _ them.” Zalvetta suddenly gave a chuckle, “Besides you make them so how can I  _ not  _ like them?” Xin smiled and let out a soft sigh. He was glad, it had never occurred to him before that Zalvetta could get nightmares from these masks all over the walls and  **_staring_ ** at him as he slept until Xin had been out today and had two mothers talking about how their kids have been having nightmares recently. It made Xin think. He knew he wasn’t the best dad but he  _ tried,  _ but he knew he wasn’t doing a very good job. “Done. Pass me the masks.” Xin moved over to Zalvetta’s bed being careful of the teenager on his shoulders as he started to pass masks up to him. It took a bit over an hour for them to finish hanging up every single mask on every blank spot on the wall but they managed. Xin set Zalvetta down and hugged the male who in response made one of those uncomfortable noises he always made before he slowly hugged back. “Thanks dad.” Zalvetta said quietly making Xin smile and hold Zalvetta tighter “Oh you’re welcome Zalvy!”

Zalvetta sat on his bed slowly looking around his pitch black room, he was supposed to be asleep right now but he really  _ couldn’t  _ sleep. His amber eyes flicked around the room looking at all the shapes that hung on his walls, it really didn’t help that there wasn’t a window in his room it was in the basement after all. His eyes closed and he sighed standing up, Zalvetta walked over to his desk and set his hand on it rubbing his hand over the smooth wood. Him and Xin had put the desk together after they hung up all of his masks, it had been a  _ time.  _ Xin had gotten so upset when he couldn’t figure out how to put the desk together and he refused to use the instructions. A smile slowly spread across Zalvetta’s face as he remembered the situation that happened only a few hours ago, he had laughed so much during the whole thing. It had been the most fun Zalvetta’s had in a very long time, probably since he had been a kid and Xin would take him to the park every Saturday. Xin had a way with animals and it always made the animals seem to just gravitate towards him, getting so close to those animals and having fun with them had always been the highlight of Zalvetta’s day when he was younger. But eventually Xin got busy and he couldn’t spend all that time with Zalvetta as he had used to. Zalvetta took a deep breath as his eyes slowly opened, he always hated the night he could never sleep and it just made him think, remember things he didn’t want to remember. His mistakes, his pain, his sorrow, his  **_everything._ ** Zalvetta finally exhaled as he started to feel lightheaded, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand they weren’t wet but he felt like he was crying. Walking past his desk he picked up one of the many masks that were on his wall, slowly he ran his fingers over the wooden details along with the mane, some of these masks were  _ real  _ ban masks from many, many years ago. Back when magic and spirits existed these masks had magical properties. That’s what all the books said anyways, Xin made them too but without the so called magic part. Xin’s were much cleaner but the real ones Zalvetta had, they had a sort of charm to them. The matted mane and old wood with the paint having faded not to mention the cracks in it. But Zalvetta could tell by the mask he was holding that this was one Xin made, there was no cracks and the mane wasn’t matted. It was smooth to the touch and didn’t feel like if you held it for too long it’d give you splinters. Zalvetta continued to run his hands over the mask and discerned that this was a fox mask, he had a few of these Xin’s and originals. The fox design was one of the more  _ popular  _ ones. There was a few rarer masks, like the lion mask he only had one original and one Xin made. The iguana mask was rarer too Zalvetta only having one Xin made along with the bat, Zalvetta only had a Xin made one. Zalvetta set the fox mask back onto the hook before he walked back over to his bed sitting down onto the covers he sighed and let himself fall back so he was lying down. He stared up at the ceiling before rolling onto his side and staring at the wall, he didn’t have anything to do. He could grab his phone or his laptop and do something on it but he was too lazy to find them, his laptop was still packed away and his phone was probably under his bed or somewhere on the desk. Zalvetta grabbed his pillow and pulled it to his chest burying his head into it, if he laid here long enough he might be able to fall asleep. Yesterday he had been extremely tired since they had to move all of their stuff into the house but today had just been school so he wasn’t  _ really  _ exhausted, just annoyed that he had to go back in the morning.

Zalevtta’s eyes slowly fluttered open as he heard Xin yell at him to wake up for school, he groaned and tried to push his head into the pillow he had been holding when he fell asleep but he noticed that he wasn’t holding it anymore. Zalvetta slowly sat up and rubbed at his eyes looking around his room for his pillow, he finally found it on the floor and picked it up throwing it back onto his bed as he stood up. Zalvetta groaned and pulled off his clothes he had fallen asleep in and quickly dressed himself into the first pair of clothes he had grabbed out of one of the boxes. He grabbed his backpack before grabbing his phone off the desk and shoving it into the sweater pocket, Zalvetta hadn’t even realized he was wearing a sweater until he put the phone into his pocket. The blond walked up stairs and opened the front door, “Bye Xin!” he yelled before quickly leaving not waiting for a response from his father. Zalvetta groaned inwardly as he remembered the walk to the bus stop, he really didn’t even want to get on the bus because he’d end up sitting with someone and he  **_really_ ** didn’t want to do that. Zalvetta stood at the bus stop waiting silently, he wanted to pull out his phone but he didn’t have data or anything plus he doubted that there was any open wifi networks or anything. He looked around for the bus not seeing anything he sighed and leaned down into his sweater a bit more, it wasn’t cold he was just tired anyway to hide that was a good thing. His eyes fluttered closed before he was jolted awake by the sound of a bus stopping, he looked around violently before noticing the open bus doors in front of him. Sighing Zalvetta stepped on, how long had he closed his eyes? Zalvetta looked around at the bus seats before he walked to an empty one in the back sitting next to the window, he hadn’t even seen Gregor on the bus at all which Zalvetta was sort of glad he didn’t. Zalvetta’s eyes fell closed once again and when he opened them someone was sitting next to him talking, he turned his head and stared at the  _ large  _ red headed male sitting next to him he was talking to Markus who was sitting across from him and sitting next to Markus was Ashe. As Zalvetta’s senses came back he could hear Gregor’s voice talking as well, he groaned unintentionally loudly “Hey good to see you join the world of the living Zalvetta!” Markus said leaning forward to look past the red head and look at the blond. Zalvetta in turn mumbled under his breath tiredly “This is Kier.” Markus said as he pointed at the red head sitting next to Zalvetta.

“Nice to meet you Zalvetta! I’m Kier but Markus already said that!” Zalvetta looked up tiredly at Kier which he must have taken as a glare because he immediately backed away and turned to Markus whispering to the horned teen. Zalvetta’s eyes closed and his head fell forward as he pretty much just passed out. “Oh wow is he okay?” Kier asked as he looked back at Zalvetta, Markus leaned and looked over at Zalvetta. “I think he’s asleep.” “Oh  _ good  _ now we don’t have to deal with him.” Ashe huffed angrily. “Ashe come on now.” Gregor said as he turned and looked over the seat back at Ashe, “He’s probably really tired since yesterday was his first day.” Gregor smiled to himself as he looked over at Zalvetta. Zalvetta’s head was on the front seat breathing steadily, “Should I move him?” Kier suddenly asked before anyone else could ask Gregor spoke first. “Move him so he’s against the window and his neck won’t hurt as much.” Kier nodded and carefully grabbed onto Zalvetta moving the blond so his head was resting on the window. Kier turned back to Markus and their conversation went back to what it had been before Zalvetta woke up. Every now and then Gregor would look over at Zalvetta to make sure he was alright, he was worried about the blond even though he only met Zalvetta yesterday he was still really worried. Zalvetta seemed really nice! He didn’t know why nobody else seen it. Soon the bus was at the school and it stopped to let the teens off. Kier was about to wake up Zalvetta but Gregor quickly stopped him. “I’ll take him to the nurse’s office so he can rest.” “Alright well, see you later Gregor!” Kier said as he got off the bus, “See you at lunch Gregor.” Markus said smiling as he walked past the male “Be careful Gregor.” Ashe warned glaring at the sleeping Zalvetta as she got off. Gregor walked over to Zalvetta and picked the male up easily. “Wow you’re light.” Gregor smiled as he walked off the bus, the driver stared at him as he carried Zalvetta off and into the school. He got a few looks but really didn’t care, Zalvetta was tired and he needed to rest. Gregor walked into the nurse’s office “Excuse me? This student is really tired and needs to rest, could he stay here?” the nurse turned and looked at Gregor smiling the nurse let Gregor set Zalvetta on the bed, they told Gregor to stay since they had to leave to teach a health class in a few minutes. Gregor sighed when the nurse left, he looked at Zalvetta and moved the males braid so he wasn’t laying on it. “That must have been really uncomfortable.” Gregor sighed and his fingers barely touched Zalvetta’s cheek. Gregor’s eyes went wide and he slowly set his hand on the blond’s cheek “Your skin is so soft.” He whispered before quickly moving his hand away and holding it tightly by the wrist. Gregor swallowed hard before he sat back in the chair he looked away from Zalvetta and closed his eyes. Gregor jolted when his phone started to ring he sat up and quickly grabbed it from his pocket answering it and staring at Zalvetta to make sure he hadn’t woken the male up.

“ **_Gregor!”_ ** Gregor flinched when his dad yelled from the other side of the phone.  **_“Where are you!?”_ ** Gregor swallowed hard before he responded “I’m in the nurse's office.”  **_“What!?”_ ** Gregor sighed quietly, “Dad one of my classmates was really tired and I brought him to the nurses office so he could rest, the nurse asked me to stay with him because they had to go teach health class or something.” “Oh.” Gregor let out a sigh of relief as his dad finally quieted down. “Is he cute?” “ **_What!?”_ ** Gregor covered his mouth with his hand staring at Zalvetta worriedly. “I asked if he was cute Gregor. Is he cuter than my husband?” there was a sudden laughter in the background behind Gregor’s dad and Gregor put his head into his hand.

“Kyrlos don’t pester our son. He’ll find love on his own.” “Zeke you are too slow! Love comes at you like a train and you gotta be ready to jump on it at any second!” Gregor was blushing beyond believe at the moment as he listened to his dads talk. “Oh yes and you jumped right on the love train once you seen me.” When Kyrlos couldn’t make a comeback Zeke just laughed and took the phone from him, “Alright Gregor, take care of your friend and remember to pick up your homework before you leave the school. You don’t want to fall behind, we love you Gregor.” Gregor sighed as his soft spoken and calm father hung up. He lifted his head from his hand and put his phone back into his pocket, turning the ringer down before he did so. Gregor leaned back in the chair and rubbed his eyes letting out a loud sigh, his body slowly relaxed. Kyrlos was very pushy and loud but Gregor knew his dad really cared, both of them really cared. Zeke was much quieter and calmer but he cared just as much as Kyrlos did. Gregor smiled to himself before he looked over at Zalvetta,  _ he is kind of cute now that I think about it.  _ Gregor’s brown eyes went wide and he quickly covered his face with his hands, he shook his head violently as his cheeks burned a bright red colour. Gregor removed his hands from his face sighing as he stood up, Gregor started to pace around the room slowly trying to not make too much noise as he paced nervously. He sort of hoped that Zalvetta would wake up soon so he didn’t have to stay in here too much longer, of course he wanted to stay here and  _ help  _ Zalvetta but he also didn’t want to be in here with Zalvetta too much longer because he’d start to think and Gregor  **_really_ ** didn’t want to think about Zalvetta too much.

Gregor walked back into the nurse’s office with a sigh, he had left to use the bathroom. He really hadn’t been away for long but when he closed the door and looked at the bed he realized that Zalvetta was gone, Gregor’s eyes went wide and he looked around the room. Zalvetta wasn’t here! He was gone! Gregor turned around and opened the door before he ran out to look for the blond, he didn’t want to yell for the male because then he’d interrupt all the classes. Gregor looked on both floors of the school before he decided to look outside, he ran out of the school and checked the front “ _ Zalvetta!”  _ he yelled out to no response. Gregor put his head into his hands breathing shakily before he ran around the side of the school to the back, Gregor slowed his pace when he seen a group of teens surrounding someone. “Zalvetta?” Gregor whispered he stayed a decent distance away to watch what was happening.

“Oh come on wimp!”

“Yeah we heard why you got kicked out of so many schools!”

“Show us this **_murderous intent!”_** Zalvetta moved back until his back hit the wall of the school building. The teens moved closer to him threatening hi, _teasing_ him. Zalvetta’s hand hovered to his pants pocket where his pocket knife was, he never left home without in for self defense. “Hey! Get away from him!” Gregor suddenly yelled walking up to the other teens, they turned to Gregor and started to back away. They weren’t afraid of Gregor, they just didn’t want to get suspended. Quickly the group of four ran off leaving Zalvetta and Gregor alone, “Thanks Gregor.” Zalvetta slowly untensed removing his hand from his pocket and putting it onto his own arm. Gregor sighed before he huffed angrily “Those jerks, they bully everyone.” Gregor sighed and walked up to Zalvetta, he could tell the male was still incredibly tired. “I’m sorry they woke you up.” “No, I woke up on my own I was going to the bathroom when they dragged me out here.” Gregor looked at Zalvetta sadly he grabbed the males arm “You should rest, let’s get you back into the nurse’s office.” Zalvetta sighed and gave a small nod letting Gregor pull him back into the school and to the nurse’s office. Zalvetta laid down on the bed, he sighed and stared up at the ceiling. Zalvetta shuddered when he felt Gregor staring at him, he didn’t know if he’d be able to fall asleep with the brunet staring at him. Gregor stood up walking closer to the bed “Do you need help sleeping? Water? Something to eat?” Zalvetta turned onto his side and looked up at Gregor, from this angle Gregor was kind of hot? Zalvetta flushed before he spoke “Water would be nice.” He coughed and Gregor nodded, “I’ll be right back Zalvetta!” the male quickly left the room leaving Zalvetta to bury his face into his hands. Breathing heavily Zalvetta rolled onto his back and slowly removed his hands from his face. “If Xin seen me he’d just rub this in my face.” Zalvetta huffed before rolling his eyes to himself just thinking about his father. Zalvetta sat up he felt a bit dizzy but ignored it, he usually got like that when he was too exhausted. He didn't really understand it considering he’s been asleep since he got onto the bus, Zalvetta just hoped he wasn’t sick or anything. When he was younger he was sick constantly and spent a lot of time in the hospital but when he got older he got a bit better. Zalvetta rubbed his head before he laid back down staring at the ceiling slowly closing his eyes he managed to drift off into sleep. “Zalvetta! Oh. You’re already asleep.” Gregor smiled slightly to himself as he seen that Zalvetta was back asleep, he set the bottle of water down onto the desk. It was his own bottle that he brought from home but he hadn’t drank out of it yet. Gregor sat down sighing quietly to himself, Gregor didn’t have much else to do. He knew he’d probably be here all day but Gregor didn’t mind too much, he just didn’t want to sit in a room doing nothing all day when he could be knitting or doing anything else.

“Gregor, Gregor get up.” Gregor’s eyes slowly opened and he yawned, stretching “What time is it?” he mumbled but his question was immediately answered as the school bell went off. Zalvetta sighed and moved away from the other male his hands going into his sweater pockets, Gregor stood up and gave the blond a smile “I guess I fell asleep.” Gregor laughed softly rubbing the back of his neck. Zalvetta didn’t say anything but he opened the door letting Gregor leave the office first before he followed right behind. The two walked through the school walking through crowds of students, Zalvetta followed lagging behind Gregor just slightly. He held onto his backpack sighing quietly as they exited the school, “Do you take the bus home?” Gregor asked turning to look at Zalvetta, “Yeah I really hate walking.” Gregor smiled and grabbed onto Zalvetta’s arm pulling him over to where the buses were parked. Zalvetta trudged along with him not saying a word, he really didn’t want to sit with Gregor on the bus but he already knew he didn’t have a choice. The two stood and waited for the bus, Gregor talked but Zalvetta didn’t listen, he was too lost in his own thoughts not just about Gregor but about everything else.  _ How’d they find out about what happened? The school said that they wouldn’t give out that kind of information, they said it was on lock down. They lied didn’t they? I can’t tell Xin about this, he’d either flip out or get really mad at me for not saying anything. I wish I could have done something but I’d get expelled if I did.  _ Zalvetta sighed once the bus pulled up and started letting people get on, him and Gregor were the first to get on. Gregor pulled Zalvetta to the back and made him sit next to the window, shrugging Zalvetta sat down letting gregor sit next to him. Somehow the brunet was still talking, Zalvetta didn’t know if it was because Gregor wanted to talk or because he still thought the blond was listening. It wasn’t long before Gregor’s friends where on the bus as well, Markus and Ashe in the seat beside Gregor, Kier was in the seat in front of Gregor and Zalvetta. Zalvetta tuned the four out as soon as they started to talk, he had too much on his mind and besides he  _ really  _ didn’t care about what they were talking about. “Is something wrong with him?” Ashe asked looking over at Zalvetta with her eyebrow raised “He probably just has a lot on his mind, those  _ jerks  _ who bully everyone dragged him outside and started to threaten him.” Gregor said as he turned and looked at Zalvetta who was staring out of the window. “Awe man! Those guys are complete  **_jerks!”_ ** Kier said angrily as he crossed his arms, the large male huffed before he smiled. “Are you guys excited for our next session?” “Oh,  _ oh Kier!  _ You know I am!” Markus laughed which made Zalvetta suddenly tune in to the groups conversation. Ashe laughed “I dunno Markus, I don’t think I’d be  _ that  _ excited with that situation you’re in.” Gregor laughed and grabbed at his sweater, “I don’t think any of us should be excited, we have no idea what’s happening.” Zalvetta turned his head and looked at the group, “What are you talking about?” it came out as an unintentional hiss. “Dungeons and Dragons.” Kier responded almost immediately,  _ Oh no these people are nerds,  _ Zalvetta inwardly winced. “Zalvetta you could join us!” Gregor said excitedly smiling as he spoke “No, Gregor I don’t think that-“ “Yeah! We’re playing again on the weekend at my place! The party needs another character!” Zalvetta winced again, what did he just get himself into?

“I’m home.” Zalvetta didn’t expect a response but he got one anyways, “Welcome home Zalvy! I’m at the table!” Zalvetta dropped his backpack onto the floor and walked to the dining room he stared at his dad who was working on a mask. “Making me another mask?” Xin chuckled and set his tools down looking over the old book he had with all the ban mask designs in it. “Actually there’s a woodworking contest coming up, I heard about it while I was looking for a job. I thought if I made some masks then I could win.” Zalvetta sat down across from Xin, putting his head onto his crossed arms. “What’s the prize?” Xin laughed and smiled at his son “Prizes, prizes that’s all it is with you, isn’t it?” Xin was joking but Zalvetta rolled his eyes in response. “It’s a cash prize along with your photo in one of the woodworking magazines.” Zalvetta nodded before he groaned loudly and buried his head into his arms, “Dad? What do you do when you’re going to be dragged into playing a  _ nerd  _ game?” “What sort of  _ nerd  _ game?” Xin asked raising his brow as he looked at the other. “Like, like dungeons and dragons.” Xin laughed and covered his mouth “I used to play dungeons and dragons with my friends when I was in high school.” Zalvetta slowly lifted his head and glared at Xin. “What  _ friends?”  _ Zalvetta huffed making Xin laugh again. “I had friends Zalvy. I wasn’t a complete shut in like you are.” “Oh  _ wow thanks dad.”  _ Zalvetta snickered softly to himself. He loved joking about how  **_terrible_ ** him and his father were, Xin was a complete jerk and Zalvetta was a scary blond child. It was amazing when they joked about how others seen him. “Well Zalvy, I don’t really know how to help you. Just don’t kill all of the characters that you’re playing with.” Zalvetta stood up laughing softly to himself “I’ll try, thanks for the advice.” Zalvetta left the room grabbing his backpack before he headed downstairs sighing quietly as he entered his room. He threw his backpack onto the floor and dropped onto his bed, nuzzling into his blankets he let out a sigh. He was  _ not  _ prepared for what the weekend would bring, he  **_really_ ** didn’t want to go and play a dumb board game while these people pretended to be characters that didn’t even exist.

__

Zalvetta  _ slowly  _ sat down at the table as he looked at the setup that Kier had, everything was laid out fairly neatly and there was an entire box of dice. Gregor sat down next to Zalvetta and smiled, “Alright! First Zalvetta we have to create your character.” Kier smiled and slid a piece of paper to Zalvetta, it was a character sheet as it said it giant bold letters at the top  **_CHARACTER SHEET._ ** There was a  _ lot  _ of things for Zalvetta to fill in, “I’ll help you.” Gregor said happily, “What’s the characters name?” Gregor smiled and Zalvetta completely blanked, “Zalvetta.” Gregor nodded and took the males character sheet quickly scribbling Zalvetta’s name into the name box, “Race?” Zalvetta shrugged and Kier quickly responded, “Half spirit! Half spirit!” “Yeah sure.” “ _ Yes!”  _ Gregor scribbled down onto the character sheet again. It took at  _ least  _ thirty minutes before Zalvetta’s character was made. “We can get Firi to draw your character!” “Firi?” “Yeah she’s a great artist and usually she’s the dm but since she’s out of town I get to be the dm!” Kier said confidently, “We usually have more people here but they didn’t want to come tonight, all busy.” Markus elaborated with a smug smile. Zalvetta slowly nodded and looked down at his character, Zalvetta the shadow thief, he’s a half spirit but nobody knows and has a dark reason as to how he got turned into one. “Are we all ready to start?” Kier asked and everyone nodded except Zalvetta who just kind of shrugged.

“The group walks down the street of Big City. Not having much to do with the rest of their group off doing  _ something.  _ Ashe, Gregor and Markus roll perception.” “Ten.” “I am such an idiot I literally go blind for a few seconds I rolled a one.” Markus laughed covering his face with his hands. “I rolled a twenty.” Zalvetta looked at Gregor before he looked back at Kier waiting for the male to respond. “Okay well, Markus you go blind for about ten seconds due to your wizard cataracts, you really need to stop using those eye beams.” Markus and Ashe both laughed covering their mouths. “Ashe you notice there’s a yelling over in the market place but nothing else. Zalvetta what does Gregor notice?” Zalvetta’s eyes went wide not having been prepared for Kier to ask him. “Um, Gregor notices, uh. Gregor notices a burning gaze into the back of his neck.” Zalvetta swallowed before sighing, he wasn’t very good being put on the spot. “I turn around to see if someone is there.” Gregor responds and looks at Zalvetta waiting for the males response. “You don’t see anyone other than all of the other people walking down the street.” Zalvetta responded a bit  _ too  _ quickly but sighed when Gregor smiled at him in a way that said  _ good job.  _ “I pull Gregor and Markus to the marketplace where I heard the yelling.” Kier nodded and looked down at the book he had before closing it, “Once you three get to the market place you notice what looks to be a brawl going on. Two men are relentlessly punching each other while yelling about something, you can’t understand them because their words are so slurred it sounds like they aren’t even speaking free.” Ashe narrows her eyes slightly as she starts to think, “Can I make out anything that their saying?” Markus asks looking at Kier. “You can only make out one word which is demon.” Markus laughed and let his head fall forward, “Well they have a lot coming!” Markus laughed rubbing his eyes, Ashe laughed as well trying to quiet herself. Kier laughed but quickly calmed himself down, “Okay what are you guys going to do?” Gregor put his hand on his chin before responding “We’re going to go and move away from the marketplace.” Ashe and Makus nodded, “Okay you three leave the market place letting these two men just continue to punch each other.” Zalvetta cleared his throat and slowly spoke, “As you three walk you notice on one of the buildings shadows there's another person shaped shadow that looks like its standing on the roof.” Zalvetta looked around sheepishly and Kier gave him a thumbs up. Zalvetta was  _ slowly  _ getting the hang of this, “I look up at the building as I see the shadow.” Ashe responded looking back at Zalvetta, “You don’t see anyone on the building but looking back down at the shadow the person is still there.” Zalvetta spoke a bit more confidently now. “Oh man that is creepy.” Kier laughed with a smile.

Time passed pretty quickly, Zalvetta just followed the group as a shadow and freaked them out a whole lot. It had been a lot of fun just messing with the group. They didn’t manage to fully greet Zalvetta’s character but nonetheless it had been fun which Zalvetta hadn’t expected. Zalvetta left Kier’s house with a quiet sigh he shoved his hands into his pockets and started to walk back to his house. It was a few blocks away which Zalvetta was  _ not  _ ready to walk all that way. Going to Kier’s house they had just all went over after school since it was Friday, they had just taken the bus. Zalvetta stared down at the sidewalk as he tried to trick his mind into thinking that it was a shorter walk than he knew it was. Within a few minutes Zalvetta knew he was lost, looking around Zalvetta seen a park, oh he was  _ way  _ more than lost. Scuffing his feet across the pavement Zalvetta walked to the park and sat himself on a swing set, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Xin’s cell number. He didn’t know the house number yet so he just called the one he actually remembered. Zalvetta waited for a few rings before he hung up groaning loudly, Zalvetta kicked off the ground letting himself swing slowly. He was torn between trying to find his way home and waiting in the park for Xin to find him, at least it was Friday night so he didn’t have to worry about being awake in the morning. Zalvetta’s eyes fell closed, he started to swing listening to the creaking of the metal chains. It was therapeutic in a way. Zalvetta’s eyes opened as he heard his phone ring, he pulled it from his pocket and answered it. “Hey.” “Zalvetta where are you? I was asleep.” Zalvetta rolled his eyes at his father’s response. “I’m in a park somewhere, I got lost on the way home. Pick me up?” Zalvetta waited for Xin’s response and sighed when he finally got a small “I’ll find you.” Xin then hung up, shoving his phone into his pocket Zalvetta sighed and stared up at the clouded sky. You couldn’t see any stars but even if it wasn’t cloudy Zalvetta doubted you’d be able to see any stars since this was the city and there was a lot of lights on at all times. His eyes fell closed and his mind started to wonder. Did Gregor’s friends actually like him? Or were they just being nice because Gregor invited Zalvetta into everything? Zalvetta started to doze off as he was thinking, he was incredibly tired. He really wasn’t used to waking up so early in the morning yet nor was he used to walking around so much, it was all exhausting and not to mention how boring and dragged on school was.

Zalvetta awoke to the sound of his phone going off, he lifted his head from his pillow and grabbed his phone which was on his nightstand. He quickly turned it on before looking at the texts he had gotten. They were from Xin, Zalvetta rolled his eyes before quickly responding.  _ “What?”  _ his father gave an immediate response.  _ “Zalvetta it’s past 1pm and your friends are here so get up.”  _ Zalvetta narrowed his eyes at the response before he sat up.  _ “What friends?” “Gregor, Markus, Ashe and Kier, those friends Zalvy. I’ve been talking to them for an hour and they seem really nice.”  _ **_“XIN WHAT HAVE YOU TOLD THEM?!”_ ** Zalvetta bolted out of his bed quickly pulling off his sweater and the rest of his clothes before he pulled on clean ones. The blond ran upstairs wearing a purple crop-top and a pair of jeans. He had completely forgot to pull on a sweater, he ran into the living room breathing heavily and everyone just stared at him. Xin chuckled with a smirk “I told you that would get him up.” Zalvetta was trembling as he looked at the five other people in the room.  **_“What did he tell you?”_ ** It came out as a loud hiss a smirk played across Ashe’s lips. “Only that you have a super weird obsession with creepy masks, and what are you  _ wearing?”  _ Zalvetta’s eyes went wide and he looked down at what he was wearing a deep flush spread across his cheeks and he quickly left the living room and back downstairs to grab a sweater. “I kind of liked what he was wearing.” Markus said with a shrug, “Yeah Ashe! What he was wearing was nice!” Kier added as he looked at Ashe crossing his arms. Ashe put her hands up in defense “Hey I was just asking him I didn’t mean anything by it.” Gregor sighed quietly “He probably went to change because of what you said, Ashe.” Ashe looked at Gregor “Hey I didn’t mean anything by it! I already said that.” Xin chuckled and shook his head slowly. “Zalvy is very self conscious. He thinks that people find it weird that he likes to wear crop-tops just because he’s a boy.” Everyone looked at Xin, “So you’re his?” Markus asked confused tilting his head. “Father, I am his father.” Xin smiled before he laughed “Is it that hard to tell?” “Well,” Markus said before he was interrupted by Kier “He didn’t even call you dad in the text.” Xin shrugged, “I suppose. He doesn’t call me dad very often, it’s very rare but I don’t mind.” Everyone went silent for a long while before Zalvetta returned to the room, he was now wearing a black sweater with some crazy design on the back of it. “What are you guys doing here anyways?” Zalvetta said as he leaned against the wall looking over everyone who was sitting down. “We wanted to ask you if you wanted to play D&D with us. Since it’s Saturday we usually play in the afternoon then go out for supper and then play again.” Markus said with a smile. Zalvetta shrugged “I mean I don’t really know.” Zalvetta trailed off before Gregor suddenly stood up and spoke, “Come on Zalvetta! Didn’t you have fun yesterday?” Zalvetta looked down and he gave a small nod “Let’s go!” Kier said as he almost  _ jumped  _ out of the chair he was sitting in, he had a wide smile on his face. Everyone else followed “Have fun Zalvy! And text me for a ride instead of falling asleep in the park tonight.” Zalvetta flushed and groaned which made Xin laugh. Soon enough the group was at Kier’s house and they were sitting around the table with their character sheets. “Ready?” Kier asked and everyone nodded, Zalvetta swallowed hard before taking a deep breath.

“Show yourself!” Ashe yelled, back to back with the two other members of her group at the moment. “Guys below us!” Markus the tiefling yelled as everyone looked down at their feet. There was a shadow staring up at them and it wasn’t any of the three’s shadows. A wide smirk spread across the shadow’s face, splitting it’s face into two halves with the terrifying grin. “I think we should run!” Gregor yelled as he pressed his back harder against his two friends who quickly agreed. The three started to run as fast as they could away from the shadow but it just seemed to follow them, “Guys!” Markus wheezed stopping and doubling over “Markus!” Ashe yelled she skidded to a stop and ran over to the male grabbing onto him and pulling him along quickly. “You need to run more!” Gregor yelled back at the blond and he just wheezed as he was pulled along by Ashe. Gregor suddenly skidded to a stop making Ashe and Markus slam into his back “Gregor why’d you stop!” Ashe yelled angrily at the glaive wielder who pulled his glaive out and held it in front of him. “That’s why.” Ashe moved from behind Gregor and stared at the shadowed figure in front of them. Markus did the same but with much more wheezing. Ashe pulled out her short sword quickly “Who are you!” the female demanded as she pointed her sword at the figure that was before an echoing laugh came from the shadowed figure. Slowly the figure moved out of the shadows closer to the group, “It’s wounded.” Markus suddenly said with wide eyes the  _ thing  _ was bleeding a deep red colour seeping through the dark purplish clothes, Gregor was ready to dash forward and attack it but the  _ thing  _ collapsed right in front of the group blood started to stain the grass around the  _ thing.  _ “Gregor it’s hurt!” Ashe suddenly said as she quickly sheathed her sword she kneeled down next to the being. Rolling it over Ashe pulled down the hood, “It’s just a kid!” Markus suddenly said as his eyes went wide. Gregor almost dropped his glaive, “Then what was that back there?” “Gregor it doesn’t matter right now! Their hurt!” Ashe pulled on the person's clothing getting it off to get to the wound. Ashe pressed her hands into the wound letting green sparks slowly knit the flesh back together. “Will he be okay?” Gregor asked quietly and Ashe responded with a nod “I hope so.” She muttered quietly. Once the wound was completely closed Ashe moved back “We should get him to a place he can rest.” Markus said and the other two agreed. “Gregor can you carry him?” Gregor nodded and he carefully picked up the kid making sure not to move him all too much. “Be careful with him, we don’t want the wound to reopen.” Gregor swallowed hard and nodded but he knew he could do that. It didn’t take them too long to get into Big City but it did take them a lot longer to find somewhere to put the kid eventually they had to give up and go back to the tavern that they were staying at. “Do we have to put them on big bed? Kier is gonna be so upset.” Markus said with a soft sigh as Gregor set the person down onto  _ big bed.  _ “One of us has to wait here until he wakes up and ask him what happened.” Ashe said as she looked over Markus and Gregor before she could even say anything Gregor spoke first. “I will.” “Okay Gregor, Markus we’ll go to the market and see if we can pick up some medical supplies to patch them up properly.” Markus nodded and the two quickly left the tavern, leaving Gregor and the mysterious person alone. Gregor sighed before he looked around the room a little bit, he almost stabbed this kid with his glaive and he felt absolutely terrible about it. Sighing Gregor was going to stand up before he froze as he felt a gaze, Gregor turned and stared at the kid who was on the bed who in turn actually stared back. “You’re awake.” Gregor said sitting back down quickly the kid went to sit up before falling back onto the bed. The kid grabbed at his wound as it stung “Are you okay?” Gregor asked worriedly and the kid gave a nod looking back up at Gregor. “I’m Gregor, what’s your name?” “Zalvetta.” His voice was quiet as he spoke a smile slowly spread across Gregor’s face as the two continued to talk. He learned more about the blond and how he got wounded. “So it was The Ban?” Zalvetta nodded slowly he managed to sit up “The masks they wear are embedded with magic it stops them from making noises and gives them strength.” Gregor nodded slowly “So what are they?” Gregor asked without even thinking, “Some of them are humans, they have relationships with spirits and some are half spirits born from the relationships.”  **_“Oh.”_ ** Zalvetta nodded and his amber eyes fell closed. “You can rest, I’ll be here until my friends return.” Gregor said but he didn’t get a response, Zalvetta slowly laid himself back down and let his eyes close again. The blond drifted off into sleep as someone dressed in red watched over him.

“Gregor! We’re back!” Ashe called out as she entered the tavern, she walked into the bedroom looking at the now sleeping Gregor. He was laying on the small bed sleeping soundly. Markus laughed softly “I didn’t think we were gone that long.” Ashe shrugged and set the medical supplies they had picked up down. “We’ll wait for them to wake up, then we can ask the kid some questions.” Markus gave a curt nod along with a smile.

“Wow guys!” Kier said slamming the binder he had closed as he looked over everyone, Zalvetta was completely flushed “Did I do alright?” he asked quietly looking at Gregor but he didn’t get an answer from him. “You did great!” Kier yelled throwing his arms into the air before he laughed loudly “This is the best dm experience I’ve ever had!” He laughed and Markus chuckled as well smiling. “Yeah you did pretty good.” Ashe sighed as she leaned back her arms crossed, “It was fun, thanks for joining us Zalvetta!” Gregor said smiling and Zalvetta gave a shy smile in return. He had tons of fun “Alright who’s ready to go for lunch?” Kier asked, Zalvetta had completely forgotten that’s what they were going to do but soon enough they were sitting in a pretty nice restaurant. Zalvetta was in the middle of Gregor and Kier as they were sitting in a booth, he hadn’t minded at first but it was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. “Hey Gregor? Wanna share a milkshake?” Markus asked looking at Gregor as he stuck his tongue out playfully. Gregor shrugged and set his menu down “Sure Markus!” He smiled and Zalvetta looked at the two confused. “Oh, their  _ dating.”  _ Kier whispered quietly to Zalvetta, “Since  _ when?!”  _ Zalvetta swallowed hard hoping nobody else had heard him as he looked at Kier who in response shrugged, “Since I met them.” Zalvetta looked back over at Gregor and Markus. They were flirting in a weird way, his amber eyes flicked back down at his menu as his fingers fidgeted with the edges of the plastic book like menu.  _ Their dating, I didn’t know they were dating. What is wrong with me? How could I think about Gregor like that?  _ Zalvetta stared blankly at his menu before he slowly came back to reality. His chest was aching but he took a deep breath soon enough they were eating Zalvetta had only gotten a simple salad. He wasn’t very hungry but he listened ti the conversation not paying too much attention, “Hey Zalvetta? You gonna come back to my place and we’ll play some more?” “Huh? Oh I don’t think so, I think I have some stuff to do.” Kier frowned slightly “You sure? I really had fun with you there.” Zalvetta nodded and finished up his salad. “Yeah, I better get going sorry guys.” Zalvetta pulled enough money out of his wallet to pay for his meal and set it on the table before Gregor got up and let him out of the booth. “I’ll see you guys on Monday.” Zalvetta waved as he left the restaurant. He took a deep breath as his eyes fell closed “What is wrong with me?” He asked quietly before he started to walk aimlessly. He knew he should head home but he didn’t want to face Xin’s questions.

Zalvetta found himself sitting on a bench staring at a pond, he swallowed hard before closing his eyes and shaking his head “Gods what is wrong with me?” he whispered wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He wasn’t crying but he felt like he was, Zalvetta let his head fall back resting uncomfortably against the top of the bench.  _ Gods, I hate myself. I’m the worst.  _ Zalvetta’s head was filled with negative thoughts, he didn’t even try to make them go away. He was so used to them that he didn’t even notice, Zalvetta could be cocky, he thought everyone else was an idiot and he acted sort of stuck up, but he was self conscious and he had depression just like everyone else. Zalvetta moved his hands putting them over his eyes as he let out a hefty sigh “You are just the worst Zalvetta.” He pressed his hands into his eyes before throwing his hands down, a loud groan escaped him. Zalvetta stared up at the sky staring at the few clouds that passed by. He was so tired,  _ so tired.  _ Tears welled in the corner of his eyes as he yawned, he got off of the bench and shoved his hands into his pockets before he started to  _ try  _ to find his way home. Zalvetta’s amber eyes flicked around the street as he walked, nobody was looking at him but he also had to find his way out of main street and onto the street where he lived. He wished he would have payed attention to where they had been walking when he and the others had gone to the restaurant. Zalvetta’s head fell back down to stare at the sidewalk he knew that wouldn’t help him find his way home but he didn’t want to look at anyone. His head was swarming with too many thoughts, he felt like there was a gaint red arrow pointing at him with a sign that said  **_LOOK AT ME I’M THE WORST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE!_ ** His chest was heavy and he walked sluggishly. Zalvetta closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them it was dark, he didn’t know where he was but it was nighttime now and there was no streetlights. The blond looked around confused he had only closed his eyes for a split second, why was it suddenly dark? Zalvetta became increasingly scared he was somewhere with no lights, looking up he could see street lamps but the lights weren’t on. Nobody was around it was only him, “Zalvetta!” his voice was screamed and Zalvetta suddenly seen lights speeding towards him. He only had a split second to act and he jumped out of the way as fast as he could, he lifted his head and watched as the car sped by, whoever had been driving the car yelled out their window angrily at him. Arms were wrapped around Zalvetta and he was suddenly picked up, “Dad?” Zalvetta asked quietly he could barely make out the person’s face but he was carried into his house. The lights burned his eyes making him close his eyes quickly, “Zalvy where have you been? I called your friends and they said you left at lunch!” Zalvetta was set on the couch and hugged tightly by Xin who was trembling himself. “You could have died.” Xin’s voice was barely a whisper but he could feel Zalvetta’s hands grab onto him, he was as scared as Xin was. “Zalvetta what happened?” “I don’t know.” Zalvetta was stuttering and shaking as he spoke. “I was just walking home and, and I closed my eyes for a second then it was nighttime and I was in the middle of the road.” Xin’s grip tightened on his son as he could feel the male’s tears wet his shirt. Xin slowly rubbed small circles into the small of Zalvetta’s back to try and calm the teen down, “It’s okay Zalvy, you’re here now.” Xin whispered quietly and Zalvetta gave a small nod in response. Xin slowly laid back on the couch moving Zalvetta onto himself, “Rest Zalvy, you’re safe now. Daddy will protect you.” Xin whispered quietly, Zalvetta nodded slowly obviously he was tired. Once Xin knew Zalvetta was asleep he let out a loud sigh, this has happened before it used to happen a lot more in Zalvetta’s childhood. It would happen when Zalvetta got extremely emotional, he’d black out and do strange things, what he did always depended on what emotion it was. Based on this fact Xin could determine that Zalvetta had been overtaken with sadness. Xin knew Zalvetta suffered from it, Zalvetta suffered from a lot of things he knew it’s why Zalvetta tried to disassociate himself with everything. So what could have possibly caused this? It was the first time Zalvetta’s had friends since he was young, something could have happened with them or maybe something happened while Zalvetta was on his way home? Either way Xin knew Zalvetta was going to have trouble getting past what happened. Sighing Xin smiled and kissed the top of Zalvetta’s head, “You’ll be okay Zalvetta, I promise.” Xin whispered to his sleeping son before he let himself relax and be taken off to sleep himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Zalvetta’s eyes slowly opened, he stared forward at the ceiling. Slowly he turned his head and looked at the clock that was on the wall, it was one pm. Zalvetta turned back over closing his eyes as he was ready to go back to sleep. There was a laugh that stopped him, “I thought you’d be scared considering how late it is in the day.” Zalvetta forced himself to sit up and watched as Xin walked into his vision. Xin was smiling he sat down next to the blond as his smile slowly fell, “Zalvetta, last night-“ I had an episode.” “Well I wouldn’t call it an  _ episode  _ per say,” “Episode.” Xin gave a defeated sigh and looked at the male. “Yes, you had an episode, can you tell me  _ why?”  _ Zalvetta went silent he just stared at the floor, he didn’t want to tell Xin. He tensed when a hand was set on his shoulder, “Zalvetta, you can tell me anything.” Sighing Zalvetta looked at Xin, “There was this person and I, I thought they were cute. And I really started to like them but,” Zalvetta went quiet waiting to hear Xin’s response. When he didn’t say anything Zalvetta continued “I found out they were already dating someone and I felt _ horrible _ that I would even  _ think  _ that I liked them when they were dating someone and  _ happy.” _ Xin pulled Zalvetta close, hugging the male tightly  _ “Oh Zalvy.”  _ The two stayed silent for a while before Xin gave up and sighed again. “You’ll find someone, everyone does.” “You haven’t.” “Yeah we’ll I’m  _ old.”  _ “You’re only thirty.” Xin laughed and Zalvetta did the same. They calmed down quickly after, staying there on the couch. “Maybe you’re asexual Zalvy.” Zalvetta scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I’m not asexual, I have sexual interests.”  _ “Oh? _ You  _ do?”  _ The teen blushed deeply and he hit Xin lightly  _ “Of course I do!”  _ Xin gave a sly smirk,  _ “Oh?  _ So you look at porn?” Zalvetta’s amber eyes went wide and he started to sputter, “W-what? I-I mean, w-well,” he didn’t know what to say! This was his dad, what was he just gonna tell him  _ oh yeah I watch porn all the time, I’m a teenager of course I do.  _ No! Of course he wasn’t! Besides Zalvetta didn’t watch much of it anyways, he didn’t care for it oddly enough. Xin laughed loudly before he ruffled Zalvetta’s hair, “It’s alright Zalvy, I don’t care so you can calm down.” Zalvetta took a deep breath before he punched his father’s chest. “Don’t do that to me.” He huffed angrily which only made Xin chuckle. Xin slowly calmed down, hugging Zalvetta to his chest who didn’t even try to wiggle away,  _ not once.  _ “Hey Zalvy?” “Mmph.” “Should I get back into the dating game?”  **_“What?”_ ** Xin laughed at the males reaction. “I’ve been thinking, I’m not a great father. You could use another adult figure in your life.” Zalvetta huffed, “I think you’re a  _ perfectly fine _ father.” Xin smiled and squeezed Zalvetta tightly making the male grunt and try to wiggle free. Zalvetta finally got free of the male, falling onto his rear as he hit the floor. “You okay?” Xin asked looking at the male and Zalvetta nodded, “Yeah, it didn’t hurt  _ that _ much.” He stood up, stretching before sitting down near Xin, “Movie?” Zalvetta asked as he grabbed the TV remote, Xin nodded “Yeah, let’s watch a movie  _ Zalvy.” _

“Hey guys? Has anyone seen Zalvetta since Saturday?” Gregor asked as he walked up to his friends which consisted of; Ashe, Markus, Kier and Firi. “No, I haven’t seen him since he left when we had lunch.” Firi tilted her head to the side, confused.

“Who’s Zalvetta?” “Oh right Firi you don’t know him, he’s our new friend. Short, blond hair, looks scary.” Markus said quickly with a smile. “Oh, you mean him?” Firi asked pointing to a short, blond, scary looking teen who was at his locker. “Zalvetta!” Gregor yelled making Zalvetta jump and drop the textbook he was holding. The blond let out a quiet sigh picking up the book and shoving it into his locker before he turned around to greet Gregor. “Hey Gregor, everyone else.” Kier smiled and started to push Firi over to Zalvetta, “This is Firi! Firi this is Zalvetta, Zalvetta this is Firi.” Zalvetta gave a curt nod and Firi smiled “Hi.” “What happened to you on Saturday?” Ashe asked walking over to join the small group that was huddled around Zalvetta. He shrugged in response “Had stuff to do.” It was a vague answer but he didn’t want to say his real answer. Ashe was going to push more but Markus cut her off as he quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulder “Well that’s alright! We’re gonna play tonight, wanna join?”  **_No,_ ** “Sure.”  **_Damn it._ ** Zalvetta hissed inside of his mind, he had answered automatically. “Great!” Kier chimed in “Thog and Inien are playing tonight too, right?” Gregor suddenly asked and Markus nodded. “They said they would so if they don’t show Ashe will be pretty mad.”

_ “What?”  _ Ashe glared at Markus who was only smiling. “Thog? Like the teacher?” Zalvetta asked looking at the five other people with him. “Yes, Thog is a big d&d player.” Firi answered with a smile and Zalvetta was immediately filled with many,  _ many  _ questions. But of course the bell rang leaving him answerless. Everyone said their goodbyes and went to their classes, saying they’ll all meet up for lunch. 

Zalvetta sat awkwardly between two fully grown adults, he breathed heavily staring desperately over at Gregor his eyes speaking for him, _Gregor help, please help me. I don’t know these people, Gregor, Gregor don’t look away from me! Gregor!_ He continuously got angrier. “Alright, are we all ready to start?” Firi asked looking around at everyone, “One question,” Thog said lifting a hand a bit in a slight wave “Who’s the angry blond one?” he looked beside him at Zalvetta who was glaring daggers at Gregor as the brunet sat beside Markus. “Oh that’s Zalvetta, he just joined us.” Firi stated looking down at her book, “Kier informed me while we were gone, he has an interesting character made actually.” “Yeah but why’s he here?” Inein asked before she stretched and yawned, cracking her fingers. “He’s our friend.” Gregor said finally looking at Zalvetta, he smiled at the blond who only gritted his teeth and forced himself to relax. Thog rolled his eyes and Inein sighed loudly, “Whatever, lets start.” She cracked her neck and rubbed it after.

“Get away from him you idiots!” Thog yelled pointing his gun at Zalvetta , Markus, Gregor and Ashe stood in front of the male protecting him from the man and the witch. “There’s something seriously up with him!” Inien yelled ready to fling a spell at the group. Kier was on the sidelines “Guys we don’t have to fight!” he yelled flailing his arms to try and get everyone's attention, it didn’t work but it was a good effort. “ _ Awe thanks Firi.” “Kier we’re playing shut up!” “Right sorry!”   _ Ashe had her hand on her short sword, she wasn’t going to fight Thog, Inein maybe, but that wasn’t the point. She took a step forward “He was wounded, on the verge of death! There’s nothing wrong with him!” Thog gritted his teeth angrily “There was something with his eyes! Something freaky!” Ashe now had her arms crossed glaring at Thog, “My eyes glow.” “Well yeah but yours don’t change colour all creepily.” Thog said giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. Markus turned and looked at Zalvetta, nothing had changed about him. He was breathing heavily, extremely weak but his eyes were the same colour they had been the entire time. Gregor held his glaive out in front of him, he was standing right in front of Zalvetta . Gregor was ready to protect the male, he was just a human like Gregor was, nothing more  _ right? _ “Thank you.” Zalvetta whispered quietly to Gregor looking up at the male from his doubled over position. Gregor looked back at the male and smiled “I’ll protect anyone who’s in danger.” He stated before facing back forward turning serious once again. A sinister smirk spread across Zalvetta’s face as the male turned away, “Look! Look at that face!” Thog yelled pointing his gun at Zalvetta with much more vigor now. Ashe turned, seeing it as well “Gregor! Markus! Get away from him!” She yelled Markus pulled Gregor away from Zalvetta quickly, spinning around looking at Zalvetta. The blond’s smirk faded and his eyes rolled back collapsing onto the ground. Gregor pulled away from Markus and swiftly caught Zalvetta before he could hit the stone road they were on. Thog, Inein, Markus and Ashe moved closer to Gregor and Zalvetta, Gregor in response swung his glaive around him making everyone back up. “You’re going to hurt someone innocent!” he yelled glaring at everyone. “I wasn’t!” Kier suddenly yelled, “Thanks Kier.” Ashe muttered under her breath.  _ “What was that Ashe? “Nothing! Let’s just keep playing.”   _ Thog grunted angrily “He’s not innocent, he’s a monster.” “Does this look like a monster?” Gregor growled showing the passed out blond to Thog who looked away quickly. Ashe sighed and removed her hand from her short sword, “We’ll wait for him to wake up then we’ll talk to him some more.” Everyone agreed and headed back to the tavern they were staying at. Gregor left Zalvetta in the room on a bed.

“Wow guys you really messed up that monster.” Firi said with a smile and Zalvetta sighed, “Why am I even here when my character isn’t doing anything, I’m just listening to you guys play.” Everyone looked at Zalvetta, “I’m sorry Zalvetta, we’ll get your character involved more next time we play.” Firi said with a smile and Zalvetta gave a lazy nod in response. Soon enough everyone expect Kier was leaving Kier’s house. Zalvetta made sure to remember his way home this time and actually made it home. He sighed as he opened the door and walked inside, he tensed when he heard a voice that wasn’t his father's. Zalvetta quickly walked into the living room being greeted with his father and a much,  _ much  _ bigger man sitting with him on the couch. “Xin.” Zalvetta said sternly and soon enough both men were staring at Zalvetta. “Oh Zalvy! Horaven this is my son, Zalvetta. Zalvetta this is Horaven, he’s our neighbor. I might him while I was in town he actually lives right next door.” Zalvetta swallowed hard his legs shaking as Horaven seemed to stare through him. “I’m going to bed.” He said suddenly without even thinking “You don’t want supper?” Xin asked and Zalvetta shook his head before he almost ran down the stairs. Horaven’s stare embedded into his mind, he shuddered as he entered his pitch black room, turning on the light he jumped and let out a loud sigh. “I forgot I had the masks on my walls already.” He pulled off his sweater throwing it onto his desk as he collapsed onto his bed. He could still hear Xin and Horaven talking, they were talking about Xin’s masks he made well that was until Xin was flirting. Zavetta shuddered and grabbed tightly onto one of his pillows, “I really don’t want  _ that  _ guy as my father.” He muttered absentmindedly. Zalvetta stared at his ceiling as he slowly got lost in his own mind,  _ maybe dungeons and dragons isn’t for me. I should just keep to myself, we’ll be moving again in a few months anyways. I’ll do something, get myself expelled and we’ll have to move.  _ Zalvetta sighed his eyes closing as he turned onto his side. Something rang in his mind and his eyes shot open, he stared ahead of him at a fox mask. He swallowed hard, it was a real mask, the mane was matted and the paint chipping and flaking off. Something was nagging at his mind, telling him to put it on. He shook his head and closed his eyes but it rang louder in his mind, echoing. He got up angrily and grabbed the mask off of his wall glaring into the eyeholes.  **_“What!”_ ** he yelled at the mask angrily. He huffed going to put it back on the plastic hook before the ringing became louder, the blond shook his head growling. “Fine!” he pulled the mask on angrily before looking around his room. He could see fine, the mask also smelt pretty bad, not disgusting just like old wood. Zalvetta grabbed at the mask to try and pull it off that’s when he realized he couldn’t. He tried to yell but no noise came from his mouth, Zalvetta grew increasingly scared. He tugged desperately at the mask to try and pull it off, he slipped falling back onto the floor. He wanted to scream but his vision started to go dark as if as couldn’t breathe,  **_don’t worry, it’ll be okay. Just sleep._ ** Zalvetta slowly closed his eyes letting himself go unconscious.

Zalvetta slowly woke up, he had a killer headache. Rubbing his head he sat up slowly, he was in his bed. “I guess it was just a dream.” He muttered as he looked over at the fox mask. He stood up and got ready for school as usual, as he walked upstairs as his dad called him. “Yeah?” Zalvetta asked walking into the living room but his voice died in his throat when he stared at the TV. It was the news, video of someone in a fox ban mask breaking into a store. It changed back to the reporter as they said nothing had been stolen but everything had been turned into a mess. Zalvetta turned to his dad, he wanted to tell him that it wasn’t him but he was the only one who had masks like that. Zalvetta stared at his dad’s expression, so much disappointment in his face. His chest ached, “Dad I-” “Zalvetta.” Xin cut him off quickly before he could say anything, “Go to your room.” “Dad but I have school-“ **“Go to your room.”** Xin growled on the verge of yelling. Zalvetta lowered his head and quickly dropped his backpack walking down the stairs to his bedroom. He sat down on his bed pulling his knees to his chest, he really didn’t do it. At least he didn’t think he did. Zalvetta looked over at the fox mask, no ringing, no voice. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, shaking his head. He flinched when his braid hit his shoulder, quickly he grabbed it and tugged on the fabric tying it together. He pulled the fabric out and let his long hair fall down to rest against his back. He slowly opened his eyes, “Dad I really.” He went quiet, swallowing hard as tears welled in his eyes. He buried his head into his knees, what did he do? He didn’t even remember doing any of what that reporter had said, he’d remember if he did something like that, right? Zalvetta was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open and Horaven’s voice. Did Xin already tell someone? If it got out Zalvetta would be sent to some juvenile prison. He didn’t want to be sent away, he had that done enough when he was younger! The males breath grew raggid and he shook violently. Tears started to roll down his cheeks, no he didn’t want to be sent away again. He wanted to stay with Xin, he wanted to stay with his dad! Zalvetta’s eyes suddenly went wide Xin was in front of him yelling with tears in his eyes. Why couldn’t he hear what he was saying? Zalvetta shook his head and tried to take deep breaths, he could feel Xin’s grip now, hear the male yelling his name. “Dad?” Zalvetta suddenly whispered and Xin hugged him tightly. “Oh my Gods Zalvy!” Xin cried holding the male tightly, “What’s going on?” Zalvetta whispered he turned and looked at Horaven who looked almost as worried as Xin. “You were just sitting there not responding to anything, you scared me so much.” Xin said moving away from the male as he wiped away Zalvetta’s tears. “Why is he here?” Zalvetta whispered quietly leaning against Xin. “He came over after he heard the news, he was worried it was you since I make the masks. But I don’t think it was you Zalvy.” Zalvetta blankly looked over at Horaven as he spoke.

“Your father believes it was more of your illness.” “Episode.” Zalvetta corrected quietly and Xin sighed nodding. “Yes, I believe it was one of your episodes, I don’t believe that it was really you.” Zalvetta nodded slowly before he nuzzled into his father. “Zalvetta just rest for today, yell or text me if you need me okay?” Zalvetta nodded and he slowly moved away from Xin laying himself down on his bed. Xin stood up and kissed the male's forehead before he left upstairs with Horaven. Zalvetta stared at the wall blankly before he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

“Horaven, I’m worried. Nothing like this has happened since he was a child.” Xin said pacing around the living room, “We stopped the treatments since he showed no sign of an actual illness and nothing had happened in a few years but it’s acting up again now.” Xin sighed and he sat down next to Horaven putting his head into his hands. Horaven set a hand on Xin’s back “It could be the location or some of the people he’s met.” Xin’s eyes went wide and he bolted up grabbing onto Horaven’s shirt _“That’s it_! Zalvetta told me there was someone he thought he liked but he found out that they had a boyfriend and he felt _awful_ with himself about even thinking _anything!”_ Horaven stared at the man who was now sitting in his lap. Xin got up quickly putting his hand to his chin as he started to think, “But who was it? Zalvetta didn’t say. Even if I found out would it help?” Xin started to talk to himself as he paced around the living room once again, Horaven just watched. He was here for emotional support since he couldn’t even get a word in and talk to Xin.

Zalvetta looked around, he wasn’t in his bedroom anymore, “This is a dream.” He whispered hoping it was true and he hadn’t just woken up somewhere. Slowly he started to walk forward looking around at the beautiful forest he was in. He turned his head to look up at the big tree, something told him to climb it but he didn’t. Zalvetta ended up sitting down at the trunk of the tree, looking around some more. “I wish I always had dreams if they were as peaceful as this one.” He sighed and leaned back letting his eyes close so he could relax. After a while of relaxing a weight was set on his lap and Zalvetta opened his eyes looking at what it was. “Oh, hello.” Zalvetta whispered to the glowing fox like creature in his lap. He smiled as the creature tilted it’s head looking up at him. “What’s your name?” Zalvetta asked knowing he wouldn’t get a response. Even in his dreams animals couldn’t talk. But he normally didn’t have dreams so this was a nice change. Zalvetta sighed almost happily, he set a hand on the fox creatures head it was warm to the touch, not like fur but as if you were inside a warm blanket all cuddled up. It was calming, Zalvetta felt like he could almost fall asleep again until there was yelling. Zalvetta blinked and the fox creature was gone, he jumped to his feet and looked around, bodies. So many bodies with so much blood, his eyes went wide and he started to tremble pressing his back into the tree as his eyes scanned the now stained grass. His breathing was raggid, his chest tightening with every breath.  _ What was going on? _  His eyes focused on the blood, Zalvetta didn’t like blood. It made something inside him yearn, twitch and twist like he was going to throw up but his insides  _ yearned _ to see more,  **_more blood._ ** He couldn’t focus, his mind became a jumbled mess of thoughts until he was pulled out of it by a yell. He didn’t know what the voice said but within a second pain seered through him, he looked down. Staring at what caused his pain, his hand covered it before he moved his hand from his stomach staring at the sword pierced through his flesh and his blood.  **_Oh Gods the blood._ ** Zalvetta trembled staring at his hand and the blood on it, his blood.  _ “My blood.”  _ He started to laugh weak before it started to boom, a sick twisted smile spreading across his face.  **_“I’m bleeding!”_ ** He laughed maniacally. Tears rolling down his cheeks and spit dripping down his chin, he didn’t know who stabbed him, he didn’t care.  **_He was bleeding!_ ** His vision started to go dark from the blood loss and his laughter, unable to draw a breath between. He weakly lifted his head and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was a head of white fluffy hair.

Zalvetta bolted awake in a cold sweat his hands rubbing at his stomach to make sure he hadn’t been stabbed with a sword. He let out a weak sigh once he confirmed he was fine and that he wasn’t bleeding. Sitting up he stared at the end of his bed, there was that fox creature from his dream but once he blinked it was gone. Quickly Zalvetta looked around his room, giving up once he figured that it was probably just his imagination. The blond stood realizing how shaky he was, he set a hand on his desk to steady himself. “Dad.” He whispered before swallowing hard and shaking his head, he pushed himself from his desk and slowly made his way to the doorway of him room. With the help of a wall and the stairway railing Zalvetta managed to make it up stairs. “Dad?” He called trying to make his voice a bit louder. “You’re father left.” Zalvetta tensed his eyes wide as he heard Horaven’s voice from the living room. He started to get that feeling he had in his dream, terror and excitement. Why was he excited? Why was he  _ terrified?  _ His chest ached and he wanted to throw up, what was wrong with him? It was just Horaven, Xin trusted him so why couldn’t Zalvetta? Maybe it was his stare, the stare that shook Zalvetta to his core and made it feel like Horaven could see through him, Horaven could see all his fears, all his weaknesses. Zalvetta felt even weaker than he did before, his legs were shaking and his head was spinning. He was going to be  _ sick _ if this continued! Before Zalvetta could collapse he was grabbed “You need to lie down.” Zalvetta closed his eyes tightly as if he was ready to be killed. Horaven picked Zalvetta up easily and took him into the living room, laying the teen down on the couch. “Zalvetta? Are you alright?” Horaven asked quietly and the male finally opened his eyes looking at Horaven. The gaze he seen wasn’t intense, it wasn’t staring through him, it was concerned, worried about Zalvetta. A weak smile spread across Zalvetta’s face “Thanks Horaven.” He whispered and Horaven nodded in response “Your father said he’d be back soon. I don’t think he’ll be gone much longer.” Zalvetta nodded taking a shaky breath. “Wanna watch a movie with me?” “Yes, I would.” Horaven said as he sat down in the chair next to the couch, he had the remote in his hand.

Xin entered the house sighing loudly as he closed the door behind himself. He paused when he heard laughing, Xin got scared he quickly ran to the kitchen where the laughing was coming from. He paused Zalvetta and Horaven were laughing a salad in front of them both. Zalvetta was covering his face his cheeks flushed, Xin smiled at seeing the two. He walked over to the counter setting the shopping bag he had down onto the counter, the other two quieted down when they noticed Xin. “So, what’s so funny you two?” Xin asked a smile on his face “I had to teach Horaven how to make a salad. He just straight up eats vegetables.” Zalvetta was holding back a laugh. Horaven had his arms crossed “I never thought about combining ingredients before.” Zalvetta broke out into loud laughter again unable to help himself. He was a bit lightheaded but he has been since he woke up, Xin smiled before he turned and looked at the two. They already looked like family, Xin was happy to hear Zalvetta laugh again, this was truly a rare moment. Soon they had all calmed down, Xin sat down with the two and started to eat with them. It was actually quite nice, they all had a pleasant conversation and it felt like they were a family. Xin’s chest ached for a moment as he stood up to wash the dishes, Horaven and Zalvetta continued to talk to each other but Xin had zoned out. Earlier he had left to go talk to Zalvetta’s friends that had visited, they told him everything they could, they hadn’t noticed anything weird about the male. That troubled Xin  _ even more.  _ If nobody had noticed anything wrong than maybe  **_Xin_ ** hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Zalvetta until now. Xin stopped washing the dishes, holding the plate in his hand as he looked over at Zalvetta, staring at the blond worriedly. Zalvetta  _ never  _ said anything was wrong and he  _ always  _ told Xin when something was wrong. Xin  **_hoped_ ** so at least. Zalvetta and Horaven left the dining room soon after and they sat in the living room, leaving Xin to think to himself. Xin started down at the sink full of water, he wouldn’t be making any more masks for a while and tomorrow he was going to take the ones down off of Zalvetta’s walls. “Dad?” Xin jumped almost dropping the plate he was holding, “Yes Zalvy?” “Are you gonna come watch a movie with me and Horavan?” Xin smiled and he finished drying the plate, he drained the sink and entered the living room. “Sorry Zalvy, I got distracted.” He chuckled as he sat down on the couch next to the teen. “Are,  _ are you going to take the masks off my wall?”  _ Xin sighed and he gave a small nod “I’m sorry Zalvet-” “It’s okay, I don’t like them anymore.” Xin sighed before hugging the male, “Alright, that makes me feel less bad.” Zalvetta looked back at the TV as a ringing began in his head. He ignored it by focusing on the movie Horaven had picked out. 

 

“Are you  _ sure  _ you’re okay sleeping out here Zalvetta?” Xin asked looking at Zalvetta who was lying on the couch, “Yeah I’ll be okay, I promise.” Zalvetta smiled up at Xin who could only smile back. He kissed Zalvetta’s forehead “Goodnight Zalvy.” “Goodnight dad.” Xin walked to his room turning the light off as he left. Zalvetta stared up at the ceiling, he let out a quiet sigh and closed his eyes so he could go to sleep. His moment of peace didn’t last long as a loud ringing started in his head and a voice called to him,  **_come get me. Put the mask on._ ** Zalvetta covered his ears with his hands quickly but it seemed to just get louder. “Shut up.” A whimper came from Zalvetta. He continued to try and block the voice out but it just got louder and louder  **_and louder!_ ** Zalvetta bolted up, he ran downstairs to his room. He couldn’t see anything since it was pitch black, he stumbled falling against the desk, knocking everything that was on it off.  **_“Shut up!”_ ** Zalvetta yelled as he grabbed at a mask against the wall, tearing it off. Eventually he found the fox mask, his nails dug into the wood as he glared at it. Only able to see the outline of it in the darkness. Tears welled in his eyes as he yelled at it again to shut up but it just got even louder. Zalvetta screamed as he fell to his knees, the noise was unbearable!  **_Put the mask on and it’ll stop._ ** Tears escaped the blond’s eyes as he grabbed at the mask, putting it on as fast as he could. Once it was on everything went silent, Zalvetta’s mind went blank. His eyes fell closed as relief washed over him, it was so quiet. It was so peaceful. Zalvetta was finally able to fall asleep in the peaceful silence. 

 

Zalevtta was awoken by screaming, it rang in his head and made his body shake. Why were they so loud? His eyes slowly opened, he was staring up at tree leaves. _Just like my dream from a while ago, it’s so pretty._ His thoughts trailed off into silence, peaceful silence that lasted only a moment before many voices were screaming. What were they saying? Zalvetta couldn’t hear what they said but he could just _hear_ the noise. He tried to move his head to look around but it _ached so badly._ He gave up quickly and just stared at the leaves and the blue sky past them. _Where was he?_ A forest probably, but how did he get here? His body was racked again by screaming but it seemed to get louder this time, like the people who were screaming were getting closer. It took him awhile but Zalvetta managed to make out the voices. There was six different voices yelling his name, he didn’t know where they were coming from or who was yelling but there was at least **_six_** people. Zalvetta’s eyes fell closed, the noise started to go away as he relaxed. **_Relax, it’s okay. All the loud noises will be gone soon_** **.** Zalvetta listened to the voice, he couldn’t move his body so he didn’t have much of a choice. Plus he liked the silence, it was calming but it was soon unnerving. Zalvetta hadn’t fallen asleep like he did last night, the silence started to creep into the cracks of his mind, it felt like it was going to drive him insane! He forced his eyes open, staring at the tree leaves now made him nervous. **_Relax Zalvetta. It’s time to sleep now._** Zalvetta tried to scream as he could hear the voices yelling for him again but he made no noise, he felt paralyzed. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t scream. It was terrifying him! Suddenly his body jolted, he was sitting up, fighting whatever was stopping him from moving. Zalvetta _felt_ the growl in his throat but he didn’t hear it. He fell forward onto the ground before he got to his hands and knees, his body was shaking. _You will not control me!_ He yelled inside of his mind as he was trying to stand. His body was fighting him the entire way, every inch of his flesh, joints and even blood burned. He could feel the tears in his eyes as he struggled. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t even see, everything burned and his eyes did as well but he refused to close them for fear of falling back into the clutches of whatever was doing this to him. Zalvetta would fight until he **_died._** He would fight for his life even if in the end he lost his life. He slowly got to his feet, collapsing back to his knees he struggled back to his feet for a second time. He stood in the field, next to the big tree. He was staring up at the sky even if he couldn’t see it through the burning of his eyes. _I won’t ever,_ ** _ever_** _give in to you. I will fight you until the day I die._ A laugh echoed through his head, it bounded around him, stabbing into him like knives. Zalvetta was shaking as what felt like a large weight was forced down onto his back, it forced him onto his knees but he fought it. He fought it as hard as he could, getting back onto his feet he screamed and tore at his face. There it was, the mask. His nails dug into the wood as he tried to rip it off, it didn’t move. It felt like he was tearing at his own skin. Zalvetta didn’t care, he knew what it was now, it was the mask! _The mask was the thing doing this!_ ** _You figured it out hm? Well no use hiding myself anymore._** A figure appeared before Zalvetta, he couldn’t see them, his eyes burned and tears were blocking what he could see. **_If you haven’t realized we aren’t anywhere, we’re in your mind, a battle of mentality you could say. Currently it’s almost three in the morning and I have control of your body. We’ve been destroying stuff all night, so why are you fighting me now?_** Zalvetta was shaking he glared at the figure the best he could, _because unlike you I’m no coward who hides behind a mask!_ Zalvetta lurched forward, pinning the figure to the ground as he started to punch them, flesh connecting with wood over and over again. Zalvetta felt like his knuckles were bleeding but with every punch and every cracking noise he heard his vision cleared, he was able to breathe a little better. His wrists were grabbed and he was stopped from punching this figure. **_Coward!? Me!? You’re the coward! You’re always hiding behind your own mask!_** Zalvetta was kicked off of the figure, he hit the ground hard, skidding a few meters. He breathed heavily, laying there. He stared up at the figure as they walked closer. **_You’re the one who's never talking to anyone about your problems. You’re the one who can barely even call your own father “Dad” You’re the one who hides behind a murderous facade even though you’re just a weak child!_** Zalvetta was kicked in the stomach, he tried to cry out but just like all his other attempts, failed to make a sound. His chest was kicked and that weight was forced back onto him, he rolled onto his back as something pressed heavily against his chest. **_Now stay asleep!_** The figure yelled angrily as suddenly the entire world crumbled around Zalvetta. What once was a beautiful blue sky was blood red, the trees were dead and barren, the grass crumbled beneath his touch. Zalvetta tried, he tried to keep his eyes open and fight. He tried so _hard_ but his eyes closed tightly, he was finally able to breathe again but as soon as relief washed over him he went blank. Unable to move, think or even know he was alive. He was just a vessel, for now.


End file.
